Asleep No Longer
by KitsuneNoMekake
Summary: It was just a regular day at school until Youko appeared. After that, everything she had previously known went right down the drain. With new abilities and new friends, how will Melissa handle her new life without getting obliviated by Hiei?


"Hey! You dropped your..." The tall boy in front of me turned around. "...Book." I was stunned. He was so amazingly beautiful, if a boy could be seen as something beautiful that is.

" Why thank you. May I ask your name?" He grinned as he gave me the one over, his eyes moving up and down my body, from my new black combat boots to the cat ears I had chosen to wear that day. I couldn't help myself from staring into his eyes.

"Me...Melissa. But a lot of my friends call me Kitty." Another grin.

"Well, Kitty, how about I repay you for picking up my book by picking you up for dinner tonight. I'm pretty new in town, but my friend Shuuichi told me about this really good coffee shop downtown."

"I know which one you're talking about. Boston Coffee House, I absolutely love it there." I realized I was playing with a strand of my hair that had come loose and quickly stopped. "They have the best hot chocolate around. But yea... I'd love to go there tonight." He laughed, a deep, friendly laugh. You know, the kind that makes you just want to melt at the very sound of it? "But wait, you never told me your name."

"Youko Kurama. A pleasure." Youko took my hand in his and kissed it ever so lightly. I don't think I've ever had a guy do that before and you have to admit, it's cheesy, but it works. I could have pulled him to me right then and there, kissed him passionately on the lips until it got so steamy that we ended up running off to some dark corner to... but I didn't. Even I'm not that stupid. "I can't wait till then. How about you meet me in front of the cafeteria after school and we could talk about times and all that good stuff?"

"Sounds perfect. I'll see you then." He kissed my hand again as we parted. As soon as he was out of sight I ran over to tell Duckie. "I just met the hottest guy ever. Heee, _and_ he asked me to go to dinner with him tonight!"

" Oh my god, Lissa, that's so cool. What's his name?"

"Youko." She simply stared at me for a moment.

"Youko? What kind of name is that? It sounds like one of you and Caitlin's weird little..."

"...Japanese cartoon characters with the big eyes. I know. I think he might actually be from Japan though. He mentioned a friend named Shuuichi, and he had the most wonderful eyes you could possibly imagine. They were almost golden, in a milky sort of way... if that makes any sense whatsoever." The memory of him standing there, holding on to my hand flashed into my mind. He'd had this long hair, almost half way down his back, that was sort of a soft silver in color and that made me think of a fox's fur in winter. He had to have been at least seven feet tall, either that or Duckie and I had shrunk a few feet since yesterday.

"I've actually heard of that guy. Missy said he was a real player." Figures, new hot boy in school and Duckie's little prep brigade had the scoop on him.

"Well, he seemed nice enough to me. You try saying no to someone like him." She just shook her head as I walked off to try and find the drama room. I hadn't been to the new black box theatre yet and Krista had said it was wonderful. That and I wanted to see what Sejansky was planning to do for the fall play this year, so I could maybe study up a bit on it.

As I walked into my first period I was struck by the sight of a pair of emerald green eyes glancing up at me under a full mane of brilliantly red hair. Taken aback for only a second, I sat down in a seat towards the back of the room, next to Scotty, who, as always, was busy scribbling away in his sketchpad. I poked him lightly in the side and he doubled over for a second, grunting at me. "Gee, hello to you too," he said, smiling. I responded in a big, overly friendly hug, almost knocking him out of his seat and actually making me fall out of my own.

"And just what do you think you two are doing?" I shivered at the sound of that voice. "I don't allow that kind of play in this classroom, unless of course I get to play too."

"Sorry." He didn't look like the sort of teacher you wanted to mess around with, but he also reminded me of a little kid in some ways. That look in his eyes, which were a vibrant shade of violent as it is, they seemed as though he wanted nothing more than to cut your throat and watch you bleed to death while he held you lovingly in his arms. A sly grin spread across his face as he surveyed the two of us.

"Just don't let it happen again," he purred. His fingers grazed my shoulder as he turned to go to the front of the room, the claw-like nails lingering for a moment. "Now class, I'll be your teacher for the rest of the semester, English II Pre-IB. My name is simply Mr. Karasu to you and I expect you all to know and fear that name by the time this period is over." He paused for a moment before turning to the board. "Let the torture commence."

I opened the door to my second period and was slightly disappointed to see I was the only one in the room aside from Camacho. I sat down in the back of the room, the very center of the back row in front of the big filing cabinet. As I went to take out my notebook to write a bit I saw Caitlin walking in to the room, followed by the boy with the red hair from my English class and a boy with jet black hair which seemed to have a law of gravity all its own. She sat down next to me and the boy with the red hair asked her if they could sit next to us.

"Go right ahead," breathed Caitlin as the boys sat down in the seats on either side of our desks. The one with the black hair was next to Caitlin and the one with red hair sat down next to me. 'How amusing. I wonder if he knows the teacher will be right next to him the entire time.' I couldn't help but think that and giggle to myself. Then again he looks the type who'd want to be next to the teacher. After a minute or so the rest of the class finally finished filing in and the teacher moved to her lectern at the front of the room.

"Alright people, welcome to Psychology 1. My name is Mrs. Camacho and I'm very glad to see how many people actually came to this class willingly for once. Usually I'm just stuck with all the kids who couldn't think of an elective so they got put in here. So, let's hope this year is more peaceful than all the rest and let's get started." I had gotten out my favorite purple pen and started to write a few random quotes that kept coming to me from songs, mostly Phantom of the Opera. I looked up occasionally to listen in on the instructions for our little "get to know everyone" activity and to grab a sheet of construction paper that had been handed down the row.

I looked over to see what Shuichi was drawing for his paper. (We had to write our names on them really big so I was able to see his pretty easily.) I could see he'd drawn a couple of red roses and a vine pattern all around the edges of the paper. 'I guess he likes flowers...' I thought silently to myself. Caitlin had drawn a couple of weapons, a wolf, her old dog Sheba, and a rag doll. 'Nothing too surprising there," I figured. I had wanted to see what the black-haired boy had drawn, but I couldn't quite see his paper from my seat. I leaned over towards Caitlin. "What's his name? Do you know?" I whispered so he wouldn't hear me. He looked up at me and glared.

"Hiei, if you must know. And I don't appreciate people whispering about me when they think I'm not paying attention."

"Oh... uh, sorry. By the way, I love your eyes. They're contacts, right?" Another crimson glare sent me shivering before I looked away. Caitlin made a disapproving face at me.

" Sheesh, after all the glares I've sent at you you'd think you'd have built up an immunity by now." We looked over when we heard a slight chuckle coming from Shuichi. Both Hiei and Caitlin glared at him. "And just what's so funny?" Shuichi bit down on his thumb to try and restrain his laughter but it wasn't working very well. Even Caitlin had to laugh now. "Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?" She asked as she put on a perfectly straight and very much outraged face. Satisfied with her little quip and now that they were all amused she went back to work. I saw her fists clench as she noticed that Hiei was staring at her. "What?" I could tell she was annoyed.

"Hn."

"Don't you use my word" Hiei just stared her down.

"Hn." Caitlin stared right back at him, refusing to give up.

"Oh no, you did not just do that."

"Hn, I guess I just did." I looked back and forth between the two of them and laughed.

" Well, I can see you two will be the best of friends." They didn't seem to appreciate that too much, though I knew it was true. They may be on edge now, but they were too alike not to get along eventually.

I made my way slowly to my locker after the bell rang. Shuichi walked with me until we reached the doors to the math building. He was actually pretty nice and apparently, a natural redhead. (I couldn't help asking.) He told me that he'd known Youko for most of his life, and that he's actually a really nice guy once you make it past a few of his more, mature hobbies. I waved goodbye to Shuichi and walked to the locker where I saw Cammie and Lisa putting up some books. As usual, there were at least 4 manga in the locker, Fruits Basket this time. They must have seen Francie before school and borrowed them from her. I put my stuff in the locker and went towards the Dogbowl, saying hi to a few band kids on my way. I saw Caitlin by the soda machines with a mint-haired girl I didn't recognize, glaring at Hiei yet again.

When Caitlin saw me she automatically put her hands around my neck to warm them up. "Why hello." I placed my own hands on top of hers to speed up the process. My hands were now a somewhat normal temperature after mixing with hers. Usually they're as warm as Caitlin's are freezing. Yukina gave her a concerned look as she moved her hands down to her sides. I looked over and saw Youko walking towards us. I couldn't help myself from squealing.

"What?" Caitlin asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"It's Youko!" Caitlin twitched.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked angrily, "Why is everyone obsessed with him?" I sighed,

"He asked me to meet him tonight at Boston Coffee," I said dreamily, thinking of all the fun we could have in downtown. Yukina stopped me mid-thought,

"I don't mean to sound rude, but Youko…well, he has what you'd call a one track mind…" She trailed off.

"I don't care." I said flatly. I really didn't. Caitlin sighed,

"Well there you go." She was about to say something else, but she started shivering again. Youko came up behind me and put his hands around my waist.

"Long time no see. How are you?" He turned me to face him, although I still had to look up quite a bit to see his face.

"Pretty good. I had the weirdest teacher for my English class, Mr. Karasu. " Youko's eyes widened at the name but I didn't ask why. " But his lesson was pretty good. He has a fun sense of humor. Twisted, but fun. What about you?"

"As good as anyone can be with first period physics and second period calculus. But why talk about school when it's such a beautiful day out? We could leave and go for a walk in the wo... OW! Son of a—" I took a step back as Youko whipped around and held back a grimace from Caitlin. I looked around to see what had happened and gasped as I looked down and saw a tail about 3 and a half feet long the same color as his hair. 'Is that real?' I thought right as Caitlin voiced the same question. I just kind stared at the ground, not saying a word, until everyone but Youko walked away.

"You never answered her question... is it real?" He closed his eyes for a moment before lifting me up and setting me on the wall so I could face him eye to eye.

"Yes," he whispered. "It's real, and so are the ears. I swear, I'll explain it all after school when I meet you for dinner. Can you wait till then?" Oh goddess, how could I say no when he's looking at me like that?

"I'll wait. Lunch is almost over anyway." My gaze traveled over to Guzzi reading a book next to Cammie. "Are we still going to meet after school? If you don't want to anymore that's fine, but I was just wondering." I looked down at the concrete and Youko lifted my face back up to meet his.

"As soon as school's over. Nothing could make me forget. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Good," he said as the bell rang for third period. He tousled my hair, grinned, and walked away, leaving me alone on the wall until Guzzi came over and asked what I have for third period. I looked through my bag to find my schedule.

" Drama. It's in the new black box where the old auditorium used to be." Being Guzzi she merely poked me in the arm and attempted to nibble on my shoulder as I got down. She walked with me until we got to the stairs that lead down to the band room and then left to go to her own class. Just about everything from that point until after school went by in a blur to me. Drama was drama, we talked about what plays we'll read and what the journal requirements will be. Fourth period was kind of weird though. Caitlin had fallen asleep behind me about fifteen or twenty minutes into class and woken up to an iced-over hand.

I've never seen anything like it. I could have sworn it looked like the ice was just forming a coating around her skin. Caitlin's always been colder than the average human, but that was just insane. I mean, to actually ice over like that? Something must be seriously wrong. After walking with Caitlin to the English building I doubled back to wait for Youko. 'What if he doesn't show up after all?" I worried as the minutes ticked by. Finally I let out a deep breath at about five to three when he strode up to me. Without a word he took me by the hand and started to lead me towards the new auditorium.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as we passed a group of jocks that were messing around with a football. He stopped as soon as we got to an area where there were no more students.

" I have something to tell you, something very important. Now I know this might not be the easiest thing for you to accept but—"

"Whatever it is I'll hear you out. I promise." He paused for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say next. "Just tell me."

"Well, god, what's the easiest way to put this? You're... you're a demon, a cat spirit with a fire demons powers. And the tail, the ears, I'm a fox demon. My name really is Youko Kurama, but I'm not human and neither are you. Koenma told us about you and one of your friends who's an ice apparition. Demons are by no means common in the Ningenkai and we were sent to find you two before your powers came to their full potential. I'm almost positive that the ice apparition is your friend Caitlin from her little cold spell at lunch and in fourth period."

"How could you know about what happened in fourth period? You weren't even there!"

"Yes, but I know someone who was. Hiei is one of us, one of the people sent by Koenma to investigate you two and to inform you of the necessary precautions we need to take. Hiei, Shuichi, Yusuke, Genkai, Kuwabara, and I are here to take you back with us to the Reikai. You aren't safe here anymore."

"I can't just leave all my friends and family. Demons? Cat spirit? It's just... so confusing. Are you sure it's me you're looking for? It could be a mistake."

"I'm quite sure. Even now I can feel the demon energy radiating off of you. And I want you to know, I didn't ask you out just because of this, though I must say, knowing you have the potential for a power almost as lethal as mine is a very big turn on." He leaned down and kissed me hard on the lips. I'd only ever been kissed by one other person before and that had been nothing compared to this. Youko pushed me up against the wall and ran his fingers through my hair as the kiss became more passionate. I let out a soft moan at the touch of his warm fingers across my skin and arched my back, pressing up against his body. Reaching my hands up into his shirt I feel the tight muscles of his chest as it rose and fell with heavy breaths.

We moved in unison slowly over to the corner where we couldn't be seen by the rest of the people left at school. I felt his hand run gently under my camisole and graze my skin lightly as it worked its way up until his fingers lingered over the thin covering of my bra. Another moan escaped my lips only to be silenced by the pressure of his mouth against mine. I collapsed to the ground and Youko followed, his long legs wrapped around my own. He pulled my camisole over my head and tossed it to the ground beside us. I followed his lead and did the same with his own shirt. His skin was so wonderfully smooth to the touch and I let my fingers explore ever curve of his body. He shivered violently when I ran the tip of my tongue along the underside of his sculpted arms until I reached his hand and took one his fingers in my mouth. He let out a groan of pleasure as I sucked lightly on each of his fingertips. Thoughts of lunch passed through my mind; that look in his eyes still lingering in my mind. I stopped as I suddenly realized,

"Caitlin! You said we might be in danger. Well, what if she is? We have to go find her." I scurried to collect my shirt and quickly put it back on. "Where would she be right now? Oh god, where would she be?" Youko got up and kissing me lightly on the mouth started to walk in the direction of the English building. "You think she'd still be there?"

"Focus on her energy. I know she's there, and I know who's she's with. It's only too familiar a life force to ignore. Come on! If you ever want to see your friend alive again, hurry!" We both ran as fast as we could to the English building. Youko threw open the doors and we were overcome with a deafening cry of pain. "Wait right here until I say it's safe. Got it?" He sprinted down the hall, a look of blind determination on his face.

"But that's Mr. Karasu's classroom!" I yelled down the hall, but he didn't stop until he reached the door.

"Ice?" I heard him exclaim. He backed up a few feet and lifted his hand as if to shield himself from something. A ball of light began to form in his palm and as soon as it had become large enough to encompass his entire hand, it shot out towards the doorway. I saw him run in and heard a few muttered voices afterwards, but little else. After a few minutes, Youko emerged along with Hiei and a very worse-for-wear Caitlin.

"Are you alright? What happened in there?" She must not have heard me. The three of them walked down the hall and as she sat down slowly.

"So what can you do? Apparently I can beat teachers." I looked at her strangely and it took me a second to realize what she meant. "I'm an ice demon," she explained matter-of-factly. "You can't possibly be too surprised at that."

Youko lead me outside of Koenma's office, away from the confusion. He leaned down to kiss me again but I pushed him away despite the hurt look on his face as I did. "Not now... I need you to tell me what all this means. What made me like this? I mean... fire; fire came out of my hands back in that hallway! That's not normal," I exclaimed.

"Well, that really depends on your definition of normal. Where I come from this all _is_ normal. But you're right. I need to tell you. You see... we're pretty sure that your birth father was actually an A class fire demon named Montaro. He escaped to the Ningenkai about 20 years ago and hid as the human Michael Long. He met your mother and 15 years ago they had a child together. That's you. Your demon blood has taken over; no human blood could ever come out dominant against it. And now your powers have started to emerge and we believe both you and your friend could pose a danger to the Ningenkai if the wrong people were to find out about you, like Karasu back there." He paused for a moment to let me take it all in.

"What about Caitlin? I mean, I'm pretty sure both her parents are one hundred percent human...how is she a demon then?" That much just didn't click in my mind.

"She's a special case... very special, actually. She, like you, had an A class demon for a father. Only difference, Caitlin's a full demon. Her mother was an ice demon named Cira. We're not sure how she ended up in the Ningenkai but we haven't been able to locate her birth parents in either the Makai or Reikai." He stopped for a moment and chuckled. "It definitely explains her 'fighting spirit'."

"I see." I was just trying to take it all in as it came, as hard as that is. Everything he said made sense though, even about my birth father. I'd never met him before and had always wondered who he was. I guess now I know. "I guess this is my life now isn't it? Running from others, mysterious powers that just kind of... happen? What am I going to tell my friends?" I leaned against the hard concrete wall and slid down until my head was securely between my knees and I could rock back and forth in a pathetic attempt at comforting myself.

"It'll be fine, really. You didn't grow up knowing the joys of power, like I did. Until now you've only known a life bereft of true excitement." Youko's voice began to get louder, reminding me of a door-to-door salesman trying to convince someone they need a useless gadget that'll just sit there on the shelf gathering dust. "With your new abilities, you'll be able to do almost anything you want. I can teach you anything everything you want to know. You won't even remember the ningens you've befriended a month from now. You could come with us on our next case, all our cases from now on. Just imagine the possibilities!"

His breathing was heavy now as he stared down at me from the whole of his seven-foot height. I hadn't realized just how very tall he was until now, looking up at him from my spot on the cheap linoleum floor, and it made me want to burst out in tears. Powers or not, I'd never be anything more than a spot on this world waiting to be wiped away by a more powerful force. I looked down at my hands and concentrated until I could feel them start to warm up. My right hand was quickly covered in a pale blue flame that didn't burn me, only made my skin tingle at it's presence. Raising my hand, with a thought the flame was sent rushing towards the wall opposite me. It collided with a sharp crack as the flames licked at the paint and worked their way to the ceiling where I willed them to stop. "Woah."

"You see? And that's nothing compared to what you could do with a bit of practice, " he told me lightly as he sat down on the floor beside me, kissing the top of my head once he was settled.

"You think?"

"I'm sure of it. Now where were we before this whole thing started?" I threw my head back and laughed. I could care less that I'd only known him for a day, there was just something about him that made me want to wrap my arms around him and let myself be whisked away to some dark room where we wouldn't emerge until hours later, breathless and wonderfully unkempt. The color rose in my cheeks at the very thought and Youko leaned over and pulled me down under him. "It can be like this anytime now. You and I, together whenever we feel like it." I laughed again despite the seriousness in his voice.

"You mean any hallway? Anytime?" I teased. He met my gaze and chuckled before moving his lips down to my neck. "First school, now outside the toddlers office, I can't wait to see what's next." A shiver traveled down my spine where his fingers trailed along my skin. Right as he was about to lift off my shirt the door to Koenma's office flew open.

"What the hell? Well, Youko, I know you like 'em young... but isn't she a few hundred years short of making the cut" Yusuke walked out into the hall, Kuwabara trailing right behind. "Keep your clothes on you two, at least until you're not in public. Sheesh." He just kept walking, barely glancing at us. Kuwabara however was a different matter completely. He just stopped in his tracks when he looked down at us and stared… and kept staring until Youko threw a seed at his feet. "What was that fo-dude! What the heck is that thing!" The seed sprouted into a vine that wrapped itself around his angles, holding him in place,

"If you wish to keep staring, please do so on your own time." Youko looked down at me questioningly, "Since we seem to be getting interrupted quite a bit out here, would you like to check and see how your friend is doing?" He sighed and propped himself up on his elbow so I could sit up next to him.

"That's probably best. I'm not quite sure how she'd take the news that she was adopted, or that my father was a demon. She's probably still in the office."

"Actually, I think I heard her walking out with Hiei. Koenma probably sent her to stay in her moms old room." Youko stood up and stretched, a hard floor isn't the best place to lie down even for a short amount of time.

"Her mom's old room? She used to stay here…?"

"Until she got pregnant at least. Then she went to live with Dante, the father. But that's really all you need to know right now. You've had a hard day and could use some rest. I'll show you where she is. Ok?" I got up and nodded to him that that was fine.

"Uh, hey… you guys? You aren't just gonna leave me here are you? Um, ok… I'll find my own way out. No worries!" Kuwabara shouted down the hall, struggling with the vines wrapped around his ankles. I saw a flash out light coming from his hand that made me think of a sword as Youko grabbed my hand and led me down the hallway into another side corridor. It took a few minutes to reach the large oak door that seemed so… I don't know. Foreboding? Something about it just gave me the creeps.

"Do you want me to leave you two alone for a minute?" Youko asked, his tone caring.

"That's fine, knowing Caitlin she wouldn't want an audience." I kissed him lightly and turned towards the door, my hand barely touching the knob when the door swung open. Caitlin stood in the entrance sleepily.

" Oh hey. How did you find me?" She asked, a slightly confused look crossing her face. I couldn't stop myself from blushing as I replied.

"Youko showed me." Thank god she kept a straight face. If she'd glared, or anything like that I would have felt horrible. Sure I know she dislikes him, but as long as it goes unsaid I'm fine. The walls behind us turned a dark shade of red at my answer. 'What the heck…?' I wondered. Noticing my questioning look she looked back at the room,

"Yeah, I don't know." Shaking her head and opening the door wider, "Come in,

apparently this was my mother's room. My real mother." Caitlin slowly crossed the room and sat down on the bed. She stood up suddenly and walked over to another door. Upon opening it she saw it was a bathroom, a very large bathroom with marble furnishings. She closed the door and went back to sit on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs.

"So what did you find out?" I asked.

"I'm the child of an idiot an a betrayer. You?" She glared back at me. Knowing her that was probably the worst thing she could have heard about her parents.

"I'm the daughter of an A class fire demon and my mother…guess she really knew how to pick 'em." I couldn't stop the proud smile from showing. Caitlin laughed,

"Lovely." The walls turned a bright yellow. I looked around the room, astonished. Caitlin saw my dazed look.

"Guess it has something to do with emotions. My mom was empathic as well. Maybe she had this room made so she could be alone and keep everything in check."

"Makes sense," I noted. Just then Youko knocked and popped his head in the room.

"Dinner's ready, gals." He glanced at something behind us. "Well, that was interesting," he said, ignoring something Caitlin told him. "I'm sure you don't know the way to the kitchen yet." I jumped up and hugged him tightly. I could have sworn the walls turned dark red again as we went to leave.

"That was delicious. I'd never tried to eat with chopsticks before though. Sorry for the mess." I blushed and Youko took me by the hand as we left the kitchen area.

"It's fine. Besides, you're cute when you're confused." That sounded familiar, like someone had said that to me before, but I brushed it off and smiled up at him. "No wonder you like me then, I'm almost always confused." He tilted his head back and laughed.

"See, and you're funny too." I bumped into him playfully. He bumped back, knocking me to the ground. "You ok?" He stopped and reached down to help me up. I just sat on the ground, laughing my head off. Even he found it amusing now and joined in. "Oops, guess I don't know my own strength."

"And just how many years have you had to try and figure it out?" I quipped, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Only five hundred or so. " At first I didn't think he was serious, but then it struck me… he was.

"Five…. Hundred? Not like, twenty-five? You're serious, aren't you?" Before he could open his mouth to reply Yusuke came bursting through the doorway. "Yusuke! Is he serious? He's five hundred years old?"

"Don't tell me you're already starting to lie about your age. Actually it's more like seven hundred, " he said, turning to me. "Held up pretty well hasn't he? Well, I'm off. Kuwabara challenged me to another right and I have to go whoop his ass now. Don't do anything I wouldn't—don't do anything Keiko wouldn't let me do!" At that he ran off, leaving us alone again.

"When exactly were you planning on telling me how old you were? I mean…I'm only 15. That's about 685 years difference. Wow, and I thought it was a stretch to date someone a couple of years older than me."

"When you're a demon it doesn't matter. We're all pretty much immortal unless someone actually kills us, and even that is especially hard to do. You'll probably live to reach your seven hundreds and when you do, you'll look back on this and see how little a difference age makes when you're immortal, and how miniscule a factor it is when the two people are together. Melissa, I want you to move in with me, get to know me better. Please." I just stared back at him.

"Move in with you? But... I've only known you for a day."

"I know, which is why I want you to do this. This way we can get closer, and maybe have a little fun along the way."

"I can't. Not... now. It just doesn't seem right. I'm sorry. Maybe eventually, but I've just been through a lot today. I…I have to go. I'll be in my room. Ok? I'll be back. " I started down the hall, slowly at first and then as soon as I hit the first turn I started to run.

"You don't even know where your room is!" He called out to me. "Melissa, wait! We could talk about this..." The footsteps behind me came slowly to a halt but that didn't stop me. I ran down whatever hall I happened to come close enough to, twisting and turning through the corridors of the building. It seemed like they'd never end. I just couldn't believe anyone would actually ask that after only a day. I barely knew him, and after finding out what I am, it just isn't the right time for that kind of step. I really do like him. Really I do. There's just so much to think about right now.

"Wake up sleepy head," a voice next to me whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw Youko lying in the bed next to me. "What are you doing in here!" I exclaimed. "If Caitlin sees you she'll… if I were you, I'd scram." He laughed. "She's not even here. Koenma gave me the keys to your new room, so about midnight last night I went in and took you to it." "You…you have a key to my room?" "Yup, and Hiei has a key to Caitlin's. Koenma wanted to make sure that someone could get to you at all times, for safety reasons." I stared back at him for a second. "You do know that Caitlin is going to hurt someone when she hears that, right? She doesn't like having her privacy invaded…at all." He put his arm around me and held me close. "That's why Koenma chose Hiei to have hers… he can take care of himself pretty well. Heh, I see you've forgotten what we talked about yesterday."

Youko chuckled to himself as he pulled me into an embrace that ended with a kiss. After a moment I pulled away and faced him. My head fell as the memory of yesterdays proposition came back to me. "I…I guess I was just scared. I mean, I am only 15 and it's a big step. I've only known you for a day." He cut me off. "Today will make it two. Just think about it." He pinned me down on the bed, his soft lips finding their way down to my neck. My mind struggled to decide, I couldn't just keep doing this over and over again. I can't keep giving in like this to him. But goddess it just feels so good, and he's so sweet. I- oh what the hell.

I tilted my head back into the pillows and let out a soft moan of pleasure at his touch. He nuzzled his face between my breasts as I kissed the tip of his ear. My back arched as his leg grazed my thigh and he straddled me, his face an inch away from my own. Our lips met in a passionate embrace, interrupted only as I pulled off my shirt. "I didn't know what you liked to sleep in, so I compromised and left you in your shirt and a pair of underwear. I hope that was enough." He smiled at me and I met his grin with another kiss, harsher this time. "More than enough. Next time just take it all, I don't care."

His hands moved down and removed the final piece of clothing that stood between us. I could feel him hard against me, longing to enter. As he finally did, I let out a sharp cry and reached out, clinging to him. A wave of both pleasure and pain ran through me as he thrust over and over again. My breathing became rapid as he worked himself inside me. After what seemed like an hour Youko fell against my chest as he came, spent.

A sharp knock sounded at the door. "Oh god, we're caught." I scrambled to push Youko off of me and threw on an old Empire shirt that someone had set in my room and a pair of shorts. "Who is it" I called, hurrying to brush my hair. "Koenma. I would like to speak with you for a moment if you don't mind. May I come in" "Uhhh, can you wait just a minute? Please..." "Now see here, I'm in charge of this place while my father is away and it is important that I be let into a room where I have asked permission to enter.

Open the door." "Please, just give me a moment" I shouted. I looked back at the bed and saw Youko looking disgruntled. "What are you doing? Get up! Get dressed! Just... do something other then lie there looking guilty." "I'm looking guilty? You're the one with your panties in a twist. Oh sorry, forgot you aren't wearing any. Calm down, these sort of things aren't nearly as taboo as they are in the Ningenkai."

"Yes, but still... grrr." Youko just sat up and laughed. "Calm down, ok? He's the prince of the Reikai, don't you think he's seen worse sights than this" He got out of the bed and walked towards me, apparently uncaring about the fact that he was completely naked. After a quick kiss on the cheek he walked to the door and opened it right as Koenma had been about to knock on it again. The tiny man fell through the doorway, tumbling head over heels until he came to a stop right in front of me. "Oh, yes, well, thank you. Hmph." He held at his hand to be helped up so I reached down and pulled him to his feet. 'Spoiled isn't he?' I thought to myself. "Now, about the matter that I came to discuss with yo-Oh my." Koenma had turned towards the door and noticed Youko in all his wonder standing there in the nude, like a pagan god just asking to be worshipped.

Koenma turned back to me. "Yes, well, anyway as I was saying. I came here to discuss the matter of your residence within our halls. Do you plan to be staying with us, or would you wish to return home" I glanced over at Youko. "I'm staying." "Yes, right. Very well then. Then, the next matter at hand would be your training. If you do in fact plan on staying with us, I do expect you to train regularly with the rest of the team. Youko should make a pretty good coach, although he's not a fire demon, he's very good at controlling himself and his powers." You have no idea how hard it was to stop myself from laughing. "Makes sense" I told him, holding back a chuckle.

"I'd be happy to train her, Lord Koenma. I've taken quite a liking to her since yesterday." He smirked at me and I couldn't stop myself from blushing. What else am I supposed to do when a naked fox demon says he's taken a liking to me"So I've noticed. Well, I shall see you both in the training hall later. Youko, make sure to work her until she just can't take it any more, you understand" "Yes, milord." As Koenma walked out the door I turned to Youko. "He means training, right"

"Of course he means training. What did you think he meant" "Well, I dunno, I just figured he might have bee joking..." "Lord Koenma is always serious when it comes to business. He may look like a toddler, but there's a lot of man in that tiny little body of his. Now, where exactly were we" Youko backed me up until I had fallen back onto the bed. "Please, we can't. Not after that. And besides, we have to go to breakfast, otherwise goddess only knows when I'll be able to find Caitlin in this place again."

He leaned down and kissed me, biting my lip gently as he withdrew. "Well, maybe just another 15 minutes wouldn't hurt anyone." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close for another kiss. The door burst open, almost as if there had been a strong gust of wind, but no one was there. "Tsk tsk, Youko. Shouldn't you two be at breakfast by now" Hiei was sitting on top of the large wooden dresser that was situated in front of the bed.

"Er… sorry." Youko got up and threw on a pair of pants and started to walk out the door. "You know, you should come too. You have a hard day of training ahead of you. I might even stop by once or twice and see how you're coming along, onna." With that the door swung closed with another strong breeze and he was gone. "It's gonna take a lot of getting used to if I'm staying in this place..." I said aloud.

"So, um, what exactly is training like?" I asked Youko as he led me down the hall to the training room. "You'll see, Lis. Just wait. Trust me, it'll be… fun." He walked slightly faster, which for him was more of a normal pace when you took into account the length of his legs, and reached the door in just a few seconds. I hurried to catch up with him and followed through the large doorway. A gasp escaped me as I scanned the enormous room, from the padded floors to the countless weapons that lined the walls, there had to have been thousands of them. Everything from whips to large machine guns (though why the demons would need those I knew not) loomed over, beckoning us, calling us to feed them with the only substance that could satisfy, blood.

"Goddess…am I going to have to learn to use all of these?" Youko laughed. "Of course not, so far Hiei's the only one who's even close to mastering them all. I'm just here to coach you on controlling your ki so that you may better utilize all of your abilities. I think first we'll start with a few simple mediation exorcises to work on focus." "Well, actually, focus isn't the problem, I just… I'm not exactly the fighting type. You know?" "That's why I'm here, and I believe Hiei will be joining us very soon, as well as your friend and her new tutor. Koenma figured since Hiei is a fire demon he would make an appropriate teacher as well." 'I'll be dead in five minutes… I mean just look what he did to Caitlin yesterday,' I thought to myself, horrified.

"Don't worry, Koenma already spoke to him about it and told him to hold back when fighting you." I looked up at Youko, greatly relieved. He smiled and bent down to kiss me, wrapping his strong arms around my body. I felt something sliver up my arms and Youko stepped back. "Lesson one, never let your guard down. If I was the enemy you'd be dead by now." He snapped his fingers and the vine that had wrapped itself around my shoulders retreated and fell back into the seed from which it had emerged.

I simply stared at the seed in disbelief. "Did you just… and did that just… huh?" My eyes wandered back up to his face. "But, you'd never really do that would you?" "If things are as they are now, no. But there are others out there who would. You're very powerful, Melissa, but that's nothing if you don't know how to use it. Hold out your hand," he instructed me as he raised his own. "Now concentrate on the heat in your body, draw it up from inside and bring it out into your palm. Keep doing this until you feel it building up. Whenever you feel like you have enough, just let go. Aim and let go."

I did as he told me, every thought in my mind focused on building up the heat. I'd done it once before and knew I could do it again, but better. I had to do better. Some dinky little ball of flames into a concrete wall was nothing; I needed to learn. Caitlin was just as new to this as I was and she was already able to defeat a powerful demon. How could I ever live up to that?

I pushed out all my energy after moving my hand towards a basket to the far right of me. A dark blue flame shot out from my hand and incinerated the basket and badly scorched the floor a couple feet around it. I jumped up and down in excitement at my accomplishment. "Did I do good?" I asked my aijin confidently. He studied the area around the where the basket had been. "About three feet around it were hit… the basket was immediately destroyed…not very big, but a good effort. The heat was excellent. Not too much for the target but enough to get what you needed. Now, try again."

My head hung low as I began to gather my ki again. 'I guess if I was in a battle it'd be a lot tougher than burning a basket…" I figured. This time I searched deeper within myself to find the heat. My palm began to glow, growing more luminous as I drew more energy. Youko studied me from off to the side, a thoughtful look on his handsome face. When I thought I had enough for another shot, I released the power and without meaning to, decided I would have rather aimed at one of the walls. The flame, this time much larger than the last, swerved in its course and hit the wall right below a rack of axes, burning up their wooden handles and melting the metal that made up the heads.

Youko's jaw dropped as he saw the incinerated axes. "Those were…"

"Mine." A harsh voice resounded through the room, echoing off the walls and making everyone in it shiver. Hiei stepped down from his resting place in the loft area that overlooked the training room, his eyes promising a pain worse than death. "Onna, you have just made a dire mistake." The youkai walked slowly toward me, as if he knew that by taking his time he could build up my fear. 'You think I don't know, onna? You must be naïve. Too bad your little escapades with the kitsune this morning haven't made you a sensible woman yet,' the voice in my head criticized as Hiei continued to stride toward me. It was unmistakable; the voice was his. Only the icy tone he used so well could send those shivers of fear down my spine.

A blast of ice shards flew across the room, barely missing Hiei. I looked over and saw Caitlin glaring at the youkai, almost as if she were daring him to hurt me. Her gaze faltered for a moment and right as the blue-haired boy next to her aimed a roundhouse kick to her head I felt lightheaded and the voice turned to a force of pure hate. The dark energy pressed down upon me, causing me to stumble backwards. "Leave me alone…" I managed to utter as a conjured up a fireball and threw it half-heartedly towards the menacing figure in front of me. Hiei raised his own hand and easily redirected the flame away from him.

"Hiei, let the girl alone. She didn't mean to destroy your axes and you know it. Besides, it's not like you even use them anymore, you haven't for at least 50 years." Youko stepped in front of me, placing himself right between the fire demon and I. "Youko… don't…" I whispered, collapsing to the floor. The energy that Hiei had sent toward me hadn't stopped and I was becoming weaker by the second. Youko just stared down his friend. "Hiei, no. You know Koenma wanted us to go easy on her for now."

I was almost passed out from the pressure as I felt a sudden release.

Looking up, I saw the two youkai laughing heartily. 'I need to pay more attention to things around here,' I thought. "You mean he really wasn't gonna hurt me?" Hiei glanced over at me and with a perfectly straight face said, "I'm under orders, onna, and I didn't need to attack you to get a feel for your potential. It's not hard to see that you have it there; you're just too pathetic to realize how to utilize it. Baka, why someone wouldn't want to be as powerful as you could be is a mystery to me. It's demons like you that make me want to commit genocide."

"I'm sorry. I just… I just really don't think I'm cut out for fighting. Even if I am strong, it's just not in me to fight. Ask any of my friends; they'll tell you." The youkai simply stared at me in disgust. "Have it your way. Just don't expect any help from me when you've got a horde of demons with a thirst for blood knocking at your door." At that Hiei turned and in a second was gone from the room, the door banging shut behind him.

"He hates me, doesn't he?" My gaze fell upon the ground, which was now littered with pieces of broken metal that had survived the explosion. Youko pulled me to him and stroked my hair absentmindedly. "He doesn't hate you. Hiei's just very... apathetic. Well, apathetic in an extremely temperamental manner. Now come on, let's keep working on this. Just ignore him. You're actually getting the hang of this. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks you could actually stand your own in a fight." "Hmph."


End file.
